Rejection Letters? You're Not Alone!

Recently I sent a query letter to an agent in the United States. This was a big step for me. After all, my (now-famous) 35 rejection letters from British agents led to my self-publishing adventure. My book The Secret of the Sacred Scarab went on to win several (quite prestigious, I think) awards and I signed a movie option in 2011 with a British film company. Back to the US agent. He said no. That’s right. No. Actually it was a charming email saying the usual sugar-coated stuff that makes you want to go to hell with your eyes open and enjoy the trip, but it was still a no. How could that be, I wondered. I read very carefully the must-have list of requirements and I was positive my book fitted his bill exactly. Apparently not. So what, I wonder, do agents and publishers want? I was fortunate enough to win a signed copy of The Help by Kathryn Stockett through Penguin SA and it reminded me that the author had been rejected 60 times. Yet here she was, at last, published with her book turned into a film. I needn’t even cite JK Rowling and Harry Potter, except that (I hope this is not an urban legend) I read somewhere that the only reason Bloomsbury said yes was because the director’s 12-year-old child loved it and asked her father to publish it. It sounds true and it’s a sweet story anyway. Again, I ask myself, how did people miss the clues? How come agents and publishers are still missing the clues? Need I mention Amanda Hocking? I have decided that this is part of a process that will never be changed. A new writer is rejected; someone sees the light and publishes him/her; everyone throws up their hands and squeals, “How did we miss this gem?” Some happy thoughts below from Writer’s Relief, in case you think you’re the only one who has ever had a rejection letter. You’re in good company!


Many new or mid-level writers have received nasty or rude rejection letters. But when famous author rejection letters come to light, people laugh and say “What were those editors (or literary agents) thinking?” Many big names faced the same kind of adversity (and even hostility) in rejection letters that you may be facing now. Famous author rejection letters teach us a lot!

When you get a harsh rejection letter, keep these famous author rejections in mind.

Happens To the Best of Us: Famous Author Rejection Letters

Check out these excerpts from REAL famous author rejections:

1. Sylvia Plath: There certainly isn’t enough genuine talent for us to take notice.

2. Rudyard Kipling: I’m sorry Mr. Kipling, but you just don’t know how to use the English language.

3. J. G. Ballard: The author of this book is beyond psychiatric help.

4. Emily Dickinson: [Your poems] are quite as remarkable for defects as for beauties and are generally devoid of true poetical qualities.

5. Ernest Hemingway (regarding The Torrents of Spring): It would be extremely rotten taste, to say nothing of being horribly cruel, should we want to publish it.

Obviously, these famous author rejection letter phrases have gone down in history for how outrageous they seem to us now. The comments probably had more to do with the mood of the person writing them than with the quality of work. It seems odd to us now that Plath, Kipling, Ballard, Dickinson, and Hemingway were rejected so cruelly. But these comments show us that famous author rejection letters are no different than not-so-famous author rejection letters! Thank goodness these authors kept writing and submitting. Ask yourself: Where would we be if they had given up? We would have missed a lot of important literature!

Famous Author Rejections: Hitting a Dry Spell

Feel glum over oodles of rejection letters? Please note that the examples below are often referenced and we’ve done quite a lot of research, but as with so many things, there’s always a chance for error. Do not cite this article for your academic thesis! Go to the original sources.

1. John Grisham’s first novel was rejected 25 times.

2. Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup for the Soul) received 134 rejections.

3. Beatrix Potter had so much trouble publishing The Tale of Peter Rabbit, she initially had to self-publish it.

4. Robert Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance) received 121 rejections before it was published and went on to become a best seller.

5. Gertrude Stein spent 22 years submitting before getting a single poem accepted.

6. Judy Blume, beloved by children everywhere, received rejections for two straight years.

7. Madeline L’Engle received 26 rejections before getting A Wrinkle in Time published—which went on to win the Newberry Medal and become one of the best-selling children’s books of all time.

8. Frank Herbert’s Dune was rejected 20 times before being published and becoming a cult classic.

9. Stephen King received dozens of rejections for Carrie before it was published (and made into a movie!).

The Most Rejected Novelist in History?


Author Dick Wimmer passed away on May 18, 2011, at 74 years old. He received 160+ rejections over 25 years! He spent a quarter of a century being told “no.” He could have quit after 20 years, or 150 rejections, and no one would have blamed him. But he kept at it (maybe he had his own list of famous author rejection letters to keep him going!). Finally, his novel Irish Wine (Mercury House, 1989) was published to positive reviews. The New York Times called it a “taut, finely written, exhaustingly exuberant first novel.”

Assuming the author’s submissions were well-targeted, how could 160+ people have passed over Wimmer’s book? And what does that mean for YOUR writing career? Wimmer’s self-proclaimed legacy is of being the “most rejected novelist,” but we think his legacy is hope and persistence.

What’s Your Rejection Letter Threshold?

Famous author rejection letters teach us that there are lots of reasons why great works do not get chosen for publication right away (or after 25 years!). But there is only one way to get published: submit, submit, submit!

Writer’s Relief (est. 1994) is a highly recommended author submission service. Check out their free publishing leads, calls for submissions, and tips! This article was originally published at the following URL: http://www.writersrelief.com/blog/2011/07/famous-author-rejection-letters/

Buy More Books!

Don't you just love the word "sale" when it comes to books? I confess that not being a shopaholic or a shoe addict, the word "sale" only gets me excited when it is pasted in big red letters on the doors and windows of a book shop. Living in South Africa means that my shopping choices are rather limited. The best bookshop in the southern hemisphere is an emporium called Exclusive Books. Every branch is truly an emporium. You can get books on such a wide variety of topics that eventually you want to fling your credit card at the cashier and scream, "Load 'em all up!" Sadly, book prices in this neck of the world are prohibitive, to say the least, so such antics are out of the question. Apart from being off the beaten USA/Europe/Asia track, South Africa's currency and duty on book imports does not favor the avid reader. That's why people like me wait for the Exclusive Books Summer Sale when books go for half, nay, even less than a third of the shelf price.

I don't know why I pretend to avoid the sale when inevitably it finds me. I turn a corner and there are the tables laid out in the mall, nowhere near the actual store, but sneakily placed between the unsuspecting will-be-buyer (me) and the supermarket. How can one avoid casting a longing, hungry glance at the covers so delectably displayed. What's worse, a single book quickly becomes two, three, even four or five as one trawls the tables, eyes sliding over the tantalizing cover copy... Even worse is when assistants rush up to relieve you of the burden of six coffee table books and offer to look after them at the impromptu till so that "Madam can shop comfortably." Sigh - how quickly do Madam's arms fill up!

This year I was restrained. Sort of. Listed below are my three (yes, such is my will power, only three!) tomes. Why did I choose these titles? My children's book series is based on ancient mysteries and secrets so I made for the historical ones. The dictionary? Well, one can never have too many dictionaries in the house, and having something on literary characters appealed to my sense of the quirky in life. I have not read any of my purchases yet, but this is what awaits me!

Millenium by Tom Holland

I must admit I did not find Perisan Fire an easy read, and I think this will be the same kind of journey, but compelling cover copy forced my hand... Of all the civilizations existing in the year 1000, that of Western Europe seemed the unlikeliest candidate for future greatness. Compared to the glittering empires of Byzantium or Islam, the splintered kingdoms on the edge of the Atlantic appeared impoverished, fearful and backward. But the anarchy of these years proved to be, not the portents of the end of the world, as many Christians had dreaded, but rather the birthpangs of a radically new order. MILLENNIUM is a stunning panoramic account of the two centuries on either side of the apocalyptic year 1000. This was the age of Canute, William the Conqueror and Pope Gregory VII, of Vikings, monks and serfs, of the earliest castles and the invention of knighthood, and of the primal conflict between church and state. The story of how the distinctive culture of Europe - restless, creative and dynamic - was forged from out of the convulsions of these extraordinary times is as fascinating and as momentous as any in history.

Chambers' Dictionary of Literary Characters sounds fascinating. It offers over 6500 entries and even if I did not finish reading the Harry Potter series, I can catch up on everyone in this book! On a serious note, there are some big literary names in here from the classics as well as the fun stuff.

'This is a great plum pudding of a book stuffed with interesting titbits, pithy summaries, tantalizing tastes of those novels you've always meant to read' -- Reference Reviews

Now for the hero part! One of my most loved books as a child was a book on Greek and Roman myths and legends. I read it countless times. Which explains this purchase.

Heroes: A History of Hero Worship - the title says it all. Beginning beneath the walls of Troy and culminating in 1930s Europe, a magisterial exploration of the nature of heroism in Western civilization. In this riveting and insightful cultural history, Lucy Hughes-Hallett brings to life eight exceptional men from history and myth to explore our timeless need for heroes. As she re-creates these extraordinary lives, Hughes-Hallett illuminates the attractions and dangers of hero worship. This is a fascinating book about dictatorship and democracy, seduction and mass hysteria, politics and culture, and the tensions between being good and being great.

Phew! Can't wait to get stuck in.

When Truth is Stranger Than Fiction: Author Jacqui Murray

I love techno-thrillers! Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October remains one of my firm movie favourites, and anything by Michael Crichton gets my vote. So, I was particularly interested when VBT author Jacqui Murray popped up on my guest list.

Tell us about yourself, Jacqui:

I was born in Berkley California to Irish-German parents. After receiving a BA in Economics, another in Russian and an MBA, I spent twenty years in a variety of industries while raising two children and teaching evening classes at community colleges. Now, I live with my husband, adult son and two beautiful Labradors and I write. I write how-books, five blogs on everything from the USNA to tech to science, and a column for the Examiner on tech tips.

What type of fiction do you write?
I call it scientific fiction. It continues my love of spreading knowledge to kids, but is geared for high school or college. I pick science topics and weave them into the plot so readers learn about them while they’re engrossed in the story. So far, I’ve covered DNA computers and Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak (oh yes, it exists and is a great plot twist).

After a background in technical and educational writing, what made you decide to try your hand at fiction?
I am a teacher by day. It is always a challenge to get kids interested enough in science to get through the technical stuff. I think complicated science-type stuff is much more palatable when couched in the traits of fiction--an exciting plot, appealing characters, a story arc filled with twists and turns. That’s what I do in my techno-thrillers. Lots of nail biting and it is all because of the sizzle of science.

You describe your fiction as 'scientific fiction' - it sounds fascinating! To Hunt a Sub is the title of your first novel. How hard was it to create a storyline out of what are essentially hard cold facts?

Not difficult. Fact is stranger than fiction. The problem with ‘fact’ is its perception as boring. That simply is not true. To counter it, I broke the science up into bits and pieces, presented it a little at a time, in different ways—i.e., different point of views, in scene as well as narrative, using all those wonderful fiction traits that make us unable to put down a good story.

Can you describe any amazing scientific things that sound made up but are actually scientifically proven? I mean things that we see in comics like rocket boots or little jet things one can wear on one's back to fly around. How about Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak? How you know that technology exists?
The Navy is researching the use of metamaterials as the foundation for an ‘invisibility cloak’ for submarines, tanks, military equipment. Holographic soldiers are not too far away. Look out drones! We will soon have another way to save lives. I also use a DNA computer virus in one of my plot lines—a virus that gets by firewalls and virus scanners on silicon-based computers because it is organic. I have lots more, but you will have to read the books!

Your next novel is To Hunt a Cruiser - did you already know this much about naval vessels or did this interest come about from writing your non-fiction book Building a Midshipman?
My daughter was the USNA Midshipman I wrote about in Building a Midshipman. Now she’s graduated from the USNA and serves on the USS Bunker Hill, which happens to be the most modern cruiser in the Navy thanks to its upgraded AEGIS systems. It’s an interesting fact that America has had no Naval battles since WWII so these wonderful offensive/defensive systems have never been tested under fire. That’s the kernel of my story: a foray into a 21st century Naval sea battle.

I discussed it with my daughter because it would require much collaboration on her part as well as the crew of her ship. Everyone on the USS Bunker Hill from the Captain to the XO to the enlisted engineers—and everyone in between--has gone out of their way to answer my questions, explain complicated systems (such as the degaussing coils and the AEGIS systems) to my layman’s level of understanding. I am very excited about how it’s all coming out.

I read how Tom Clancy began writing fiction based on his interest in various non-fiction topics. He has become such an expert that the US Military use him as a resource. Do you see yourself treading the same ladder?
I would never compare myself to Tom Clancy. He’s one of my heroes in the military fiction genre. What a cool thought, though.

You've been very successful with your non-fiction and educational books. Have you found your fiction road to fame a smooth ride or rocky in places?
Writing non-fiction is a much different animal than fiction. Where my background as a tech teacher can provide credibility to my tech workbooks and my legacy as the mom of a USNA Midshipman gives me authority in that realm, fiction is not the same. Publishers are primarily interested in how many books you have already published. I have two fiction books that I haven’t found publishers for. Since they are both along the lines of To Hunt a Cruiser with their focus on making science exciting for people, I’m hoping that once I find a publisher for one book, the rest will follow.

With my fiction choices, I love action/thrillers that show how people solve problems when under stress, and how they come up with unique solutions to never-before-solved problems. The human mind fascinates me. We’ve done so much no other species has managed to accomplish. Your words here prompt me to ask - are you a cerebral or an emotional writer? Do your characters’ feelings or actions come first?
My stories tend to be plot-driven rather than character-driven. I delve into my characters, but it is the plot that will keep people coming back. I have the usual amount of interior monologue and reaction scenes to allow my point of view characters to show their emotions and thoughts regarding an action scene, but I have to say, it is the action that drives things.

Anything you'd like to share with readers that I haven't asked you.

Anyone interested in my books, here is where you can find them:

• My six technology workbooks are available on Amazon.com and the publisher's website. The ebooks are available on Scribd.com.
• My two computer lab toolkits are available on Amazon.com and the publisher's website. The ebooks are available on Scribd.com.
• Building a Midshipman is available on Amazon.com and the publisher's website. The ebooks are available on Scribd.com.
• If you’re interested in To Hunt a Cruiser, leave a comment on my WordDreams blog and I’ll let you know when it’s out.
• My Building a Midshipman site is USNA or Bust.
• My Computer Lab Toolkit and Technology Workbooks site is Ask a Tech Teacher
• My writing tips blog is WordDreams
• I also write a column for Examiner.com. I invite everyone to read that, add comments, follow me!
• Oh—my Twitter handle is @askatechteacher

Thanks for all this info, Jacqui. I'll be interested in reviewing To Hunt A Sub when it's out!


 

Why I Read Clive Cussler

This sounds like a really strange title for a blog post: Why I Read Clive Cussler. Well, maybe you’re wondering why I do read his books, now that I’ve said (almost guiltily) that I do. That remark and this blog post were inspired by an interesting article in the Guardian (UK) by Cormac McCarthy, about bad books and bad writing. He questions whether some of the supposedly ‘good’ writers were all that good in the end. I guess many people who went to college and university have (like me) read just about every ‘good book’ that the English Lit courses had to offer. How many people continued to read those good books after graduation? How many of those people sashay into a bookshop and immediately head for the (Whatever) Prize winners of the year? How many of those same people sidle to the ‘commercial fiction’ section, shelves groaning under the weight of yet another bestseller that the critics have panned but has been flying off the shelves, copies bought by secret (avid) commercial fiction aficionados?


Confess! How many readers have snuck a wonderful ‘bad fiction’ book into their ‘good books’ shopping? I began to think long and hard about what constitutes a good book. A few years ago, while running a personnel agency, I was interviewing a woman who told me emphatically that she never, ever read ‘rubbish,’ and that she only ever read ‘fine literature.’ Shame. Sounds like torture. The problem is, when you consider fine literature like Jane Austen, she wasn’t writing for the literary snobs of the day: she was writing for the readers of the day. So was Dickens. His weekly installments had readers panting for the next chapter in his novels.

I then formulated my theory that a book is as good as its reader perceives it to be. I am not talking about poorly written, badly constructed novels with excruciating dialogue and pathetic grammar, desperately in need of merciless editing. I am talking about popular fiction. The businessman who wants a throw-away spy thriller to read on the plane, the housewife who languishes in the arms of an imaginary Mills & Boon lover while washing socks, the computer buff who craves sci-fi above all else; the kid who devours comics … what they read is good for them because it satisfies a need and makes them happy.

Philistine! I hear the shrieks already. But hear me out. At university my book shelves bulged with the fruits of fantastic writers: Austen, Bronte, Waugh, Poe, Tolkien, Dickens … you name it, I had it, and I still have them now. And yes, I do still read them. My mother was much addicted to frivolous romances (she still is!) and when I would try to persuade her to wade though some tome or other, she would shudder and tell me that at her stage in life she wanted to read for enjoyment. Young and naïve, wrestling with James Joyce and other ‘good writers’ who were actually sometimes completely obscure, I thought she had sunk quite low in the field of literary tastes. Her behavior was made all the more reprehensible by the fact that my mother did English Lit at university and many of my good books were hers originally.

Actually, I have also fallen somewhat from my ivory tower of literary correctness. I love reading Clive Cussler because he tells such ripping good yarns. Of course, being a complete tomboy with four brothers may just have contributed to my loving adventure stories. I now realize that one can have good books that may only be good to an individual. It might be character, plot, or descriptions; whatever counts the most for that reader. My adopted daughter agrees with many opinions that Bella of the Twilight sagas  is annoying. Maybe as a heroine she is, but my daughter has devoured all the books many times over already and the series transformed her from being a reluctant reader into an avid reader. Obviously Edward's charms have made up for Bella's deficiencies...

I have heard J.K. Rowling, Dan Brown, and Stephenie Meyer’s writing skills being criticized. Despite all that, they’ve sold more books and earned more money than many a ‘good’ writer. So, how does one measure the success of a writer? Katie Price (er … Jordan, for those not in the know) has published yet another bestselling autobiography. I thought a person could only write one, and that technically it should at the end of a long, meaningful, and fruitful life, but apparently that’s not true. So, if she sells more books than a ‘good’ writer, does that make her a better writer?

The public is fickle. Writers have to give readers what they want. With the evolution of society and the novels that reflect society’s tastes, values, morals (or lack thereof), habits, and desires, more themes are becoming available. The sky is the limit when it comes to topics and, especially since the explosion of print on demand and e-publishing options, people ready to write about them. A hundred years ago it would have been unthinkable for anyone to pen a memoir that included lovers, children out of wedlock, drugs, sensational intimate details etc. That’s why D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover was such a literary and social scandal way back then. Not so today. It actually seems rather tame. Reality has become more compelling than fiction, and the adage holds true: truth is stranger than fiction.

Is there a future for ‘good’ books? Of course there is! People want solid writing when they’re in the mood for it. Others want just fluff and escapism. I say give people what they want, but write what you know to be real. Read any good books lately?

This is not a rhetorical question: who has managed to read James Joyce’s Ulysses from start to finish?